The Court of Appeal has quashed Dean Boland’s manslaughter conviction arising from a fatal fire after ruling that the deceased’s decision to go back inside the burning building broke the legal chain of causation.
Boland had been convicted in Dublin Circuit Criminal Court in December 2022 of manslaughter, arson and burglary. He received an eight-year prison sentence on the manslaughter count in March 2023, with the other two offences taken into consideration.
The fire was started by Boland in the ground-floor apartment of a two-apartment building on August 21, 2018. Three people living upstairs, including the deceased, woke to smoke and escaped safely at about 3.12am.
Once outside, the three initially spoke together. The deceased also confronted Boland, who was nearby. Two flatmates called the fire brigade, with the first call recorded at 3.19am.
Several minutes after reaching safety, the deceased went back into the building and upstairs. His flatmates tried to follow but were stopped by Gardaí because conditions were too dangerous. The deceased was later found dead in the apartment after suffering cardiac arrest following inhalation of smoke and fire gases.
Boland argued at trial and on appeal that the deceased’s voluntary return to the building was a new intervening act which broke the causal connection between the arson and the death.
The Court of Appeal agreed. It held that manslaughter requires the accused’s conduct to be a significant contributing cause of death. Although the fire created the dangerous situation, the court found that the deceased had already escaped it, had spent time outside and did not appear confused or panicked before deciding to re-enter.
The judges described that decision as independent and voluntary. They held that the fire was the setting in which the death occurred, but not its legal cause.
The manslaughter conviction was therefore quashed. Boland had abandoned his appeal against the separate arson and burglary convictions.